Two players are among 30 people killed in clashes after 21 men were sentenced to death for their part in a football riot in Egypt.

5:32pm UK, Saturday 26 January 2013

Video: Death Sentences Spark Egypt RiotsEnlarge

in riots in the Egyptian city of Port Said following the sentencing to death of 21 fans.

Violence erupted in the city after judge sentenced the 21 people to death over a post-match riot in February last year that killed 74 fans of the Cairo-based Al Ahly team.

All of the people sentenced to death were fans of Port Said's main team, Al Masry. Jubilant: Fans of Al Ahly football club celebrate the verdict in Cairo Minutes after the Cairo court handed down the sentences, protesters rampaged through Port Said, attacking police stations and setting tyres alight.

Relatives tried to storm the prison in Port Said where those convicted were being held, leading to fierce clashes with security forces that killed two policemen.

The two players were shot to death as they were apparently on their way to practice near the prison.

The director of hospitals, Dr Abdel Raham Farah, said Mahmoud Abdel Halim al Dizawi, a football player in the city's Al Marikh club, had been shot three times and died. Al Ahly fans were considered by many to be the victims of the riot He said Tamer al Fahla, a player who used to play for Al Masry team, had also been shot dead on his way to Al Marikh club.

Shops in Port Said were closed and armoured personnel vehicles deployed as fighting raged in streets around the prison.

The military has been deployed to try and restore security. Joy: Families of fans killed shouted 'God is great' after the verdict Both inside and outside the Cairo court, there were explosions of joy at the verdict, which was broadcast live on Egyptian TV.

Relatives of those killed hugged each other and shouted "God is greatest".

A man who lost his son in the February clashes wept outside the court and said he was satisfied with the sentences.

Football fans from both teams hold the police at least partially responsible for the deaths and criticised Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi for doing little to reform the force. Some of the defendants accused of involvement in the violence Doctors treating the victims of the February riots said some had been stabbed to death. One player caught up in the rioting described it as "a war".

Witnesses said most of the deaths involved people who had been trampled in the crush of panicked crowds, or who fell from terraces.

The post-match riot - the world's deadliest football violence in 15 years - also sparked days of protests in the capital, in which another 16 people were killed.

The judge said in his statement that he would announce the verdict for the remaining 52 defendants on March 9. Among those on trial are nine security officials.

As is customary in Egypt, the death sentences will be sent to religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for approval.

Executions in Egypt are usually carried out by hanging.

The latest violence comes a day after nine people were killed in protests against the president on the second anniversary of Egypt's uprising against the former president, Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian protesters clash with police outside the presidential palace in Cairo, after a week of violence in which more than 60 people were killed

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Egyptian protesters have clashed with police outside the presidential palace in Cairo, after a week of violence in which more than 60 people were killed.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannon to try to drive back the crowds throwing rocks and petrol bombs.

Thousands also rallied in Port Said - one year after football riots in the city, which killed 74 people.

The protesters accuse Islamist President Mohammed Morsi of betraying the 2011 uprising - a claim he denies.

In a statement on his Facebook page, the president warned that security forces would "act with utmost decisiveness" to protect state institutions and those groups behind the violence would be held "politically accountable".

Mr Morsi's supporters say the demonstrators are trying to used the power of the street to bring down the country's first democratically elected president, the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo reports.Sexual assaults On Friday, thousands of people chanted "Leave, leave, Morsi!" as they gathered outside the presidential palace - in the north of the capital.

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Some of the demonstrators then began throwing Molotov cocktails over the palace walls and lighting fires in the streets.

Skirmishes were reported close to the capital's Tahrir Square, where thousands more marched, urging Mr Morsi to leave.

A demonstration was also held in Port Said, at the northern end of the Suez Canal.

The city has seen the worst of the violence over the past week, in clashes sparked by death sentences imposed on 21 local people in connection with the football riots.

On Thursday, leaders of some of the main political factions condemned the violence. But youth groups later still called for more street protests.

In a separate development, human rights officials have expressed alarm over a rise in sexual violence against women in Cairo.

According to the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 25 women have been sexually assaulted, mainly in Tahrir Square, since the protests erupted.

Michelle Bachelet, of the UN's Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, said she was "deeply disturbed by the gravity of [the] recent attacks".

Sexual assaults against women around Tahrir Square was widely reported during the uprising there which eventually unseated Hosni Mubarak. 'Collapse of state' The current unrest began on 24 January in Cairo on the eve of the second anniversary of the revolution and has spread to several cities.

Protesters accuse President Morsi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, of imposing a new form of authoritarianism and betraying the values of their uprising two years ago.

On Tuesday, Egyptian army chief Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi warned that the political crisis could lead to the collapse of the state.